


To the Beat of Our Noisy Hearts

by SilverSlashes



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Drabble, Established Relationship, Fluff, Light Angst, M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-13
Updated: 2018-07-13
Packaged: 2019-06-09 16:04:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15271143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverSlashes/pseuds/SilverSlashes
Summary: Steve wears a ring on his left hand made lovingly for him by his genius, billionaire, philanthropist, no-longer-a-playboy, husband. The unique ring allows Steve to feel Tony’s heartbeat from anywhere in the world. Steve cherishes the ring right up until the morning he’s tailing his latest “mission” through the streets of Baghdad and he feels the ring on his finger go still.





	To the Beat of Our Noisy Hearts

**Author's Note:**

> I am 100% procrastinating my Cap Big Bang story. So, here’s a little fluffy one shot of Stony goodness. It’s super short and has no porn so I didn’t use a cut. Enjoy!

Steve wears a ring on his left hand made lovingly for him by his genius, billionaire, philanthropist, no-longer-a-playboy, husband. The unique ring allows Steve to feel Tony’s heartbeat from anywhere in the world. When Steve is away on missions he places his hand over his heart and falls asleep to the soft thump, thump, thump against his skin.   
  
It’s both a technology that Steve marvels at and a romantic gesture he appreciates from a man who,  _let’s be honest,_  isn’t always the best at gift giving. Steve cherishes the ring right up until the morning he’s tailing his latest “mission” through the streets of Baghdad and he feels the ring on his finger go thump, thump, pause. Steve processes the utter stillness like a lightening strike.  
  
He’s breaking cover without even thinking about it, turning to sprint back towards the safe house and yelling at Nat over the comms, “Nat, there’s something wrong with Tony. The ring. Nat, I can’t feel the ring anymore. Call his cell. Call the lab. Ping FRIDAY. Try Pepper!”   
  
Bless her, Nat doesn’t even ask questions. She confirms she’s trying Tony on his private line while also sending 911s to Fury, Hill, Clint (who’s actually at the tower right now), Pepper, and FRIDAY, “I’ll know something in a second…”  
  
When her voice fades out and she comes back a second later with a tight, “Tony’s not answering his personal line. FRIDAY is not responding to any of my pings either.”   
  
Steve swears loudly, still sprinting towards her location. The ring on his finger continues to lie still and ordinary against Steve’s skin. Every second of stillness is like an empty echo in Steve’s soul. He thinks to himself over and over again,  _don’t be dead, don’t be dead, don’t be…_  
  
“Steve, I’ve got Clint on the line. He’s on the move in the tower. We should know something in a few minutes.” Natasha’s voice is clipped and professional. She’s slipped into agent-mode to try and navigate her own emotions and probably to keep Steve’s in line. It doesn’t work.   
  
It seems like hours, but is in actuality only a few minutes, before Clint’s half relieved, half amused voice sounds over the comms, “you guys aren’t gonna fucking  _believe_  this.”   
  
  
“So, let me get this straight,” Steve tries to sound level-headed, but his pitch is off, “you were working on new tech?”   
  
Tony holds up a finger as if to say,  _just a minute now_ , “not just  _new_  tech,  _unheard-of_ tech. Like, you wouldn’t even believe! If I could master this fucking thing… it’s a selective EMP device.”   
  
Tony’s got his hands waving and gesturing like he does when he’s getting ready to really fall off the design cliff, “We could disable the tech of our enemy’s without compromising our own!”   
  
Steve raises his voice, not angry per say, but certainly not willing to let Tony continue on a science tangent, “The point, Tony! The point! Is that you were messing around with an EMP and you didn’t think about the tech you were wearing. The tech around you. The tech that keeps this building secure!”   
  
Tony rolls his eyes, “well, no, that’s not entirely true. FRIDAY and I had measures in place to limit the effect and reach of the blast. The prototype I was working on was miniature. It only effected about a 10 foot radius.”   
  
Steve huffs out a breath, all the fight going out of him. It’s really hard to hold onto the anger and worry over the situation when he can now see for himself that Tony is fine and as sassy as ever. Steve walks over to their bed and drops down onto it with a sigh; still in the clothes he had been wearing to tail his mark in Baghdad.   
  
Tony seems to sense Steve’s mood shift and the implications because he comes to sit beside Steve, lacing their hands together and squeezing Steve’s hand when he says quietly to Tony, “You didn’t consider that I might think you had died?”   
  
Tony sighs to match Steve’s, he’s still bad at this,  _emotions_ , he probably always will be, but he tries anyway for the people he loves, like Steve, “Honestly, Steve, I wear the sensor for the ring constantly. It’s like how the arch reactor used to be. It’s become so much a part of me that I don’t think about it.”   
  
Tony brings Steve’s hand up, still threaded together with his, and touches his lips to the warm, completely still metal ring on Steve’s finger, “I didn’t consider that I had a piece of tech on me or that your immediate reaction to the ring going still would be that my heart had stopped beating. Not, I took the sensor off. Not, something  _malfunctioned_. Just, Tony’s dead.”   
  
Steve tries and fails to suppress a shiver at Tony’s words, “your tech doesn’t malfunction.  _Ever_.” Tony looks smug at Steve’s faith in him, “What was I supposed to think? I don’t think of the ring as tech anymore anyway. I just think of it as your heartbeat, in my hand. When it stopped…” Steve has to swallow a few times and he feels Tony press tighter into his side in comfort, “When it stopped, of course I assumed your heart had stopped.”   
  
Tony crawls over onto Steve’s lap to straddle his waist and drape himself over Steve’s chest, burying his face in Steve’s neck and breathing deep, “I don’t think we thought through the complications, or distractions in the field for you that could come from a malfunction of the ring…”   
  
Steve feels obstinate about pointing out the obvious, “or, you know, something actually happening to you and me having to feel it happen in the field. Like I thought was happening this time. Tony, I don’t want to feel helpless like that again.”   
  
Tony presses small kisses into the thin skin behind Steve’s ear, “we don’t live boring lives Steve. Part of loving one another is accepting the risks we both take as Avengers.”   
  
Steve smiles softly when Tony says the word  _loving_  and frowns again when he mentions  _risk_. He brings his arms around Tony and hugs him as tightly as he can without crushing Tony to his body like he wants to do and his strength will allow.   
  
Steve huffs out a breath and just says, “I know that. But, it doesn’t mean I have to like it when one of us has a close call, or that I can’t hate the idea of losing you.”   
  
“I don’t really like the idea of being without you either. That’s why I put my own little sensor in your suit. FRIDAY keeps me updated on your wellbeing. I know I’d freak the fuck out if she told me your heart stopped beating,” Tony whispers like it’s a secret, “I’m sorry I scared you.”   
  
Steve leans back just for a second, bringing Tony’s face up to his to kiss him. Their lips are dry and they’re both tired, so it’s little more than a long press of lips, but it’s a reminder that despite the events of the day they’re both still here, in the bed they share, pressed together. When they pull apart Tony lays his head back down on Steve’s shoulder, neither one of them quite ready to let go just yet.   
  
Steve closes his eyes and let’s the absolute control he keeps on his heightened senses loosen just a little. He can feel Tony’s heart beat against his chest where they are pressed together. He can feel Tony’s warm breath ghosting across his neck. He can smell the grease, metal, sweat, coffee scent that constantly surrounds Tony when he’s working in the lab.   
  
Steve tightens his arms around this infuriating man he calls his and let’s himself relax little by little. Steve tucks his face down into Tony’s neck, his nose pressed to warm skin and they stay on the bed like that wrapped up in one another for a long time.

  
Feel free to [follow](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/silverslashes) me and I promise to try and be worthy of it.   
  
  



End file.
